UP: Four arrested for allegedly throwing meat inside temple in Budhana area

The Uttar Pradesh police arrested four individuals in the Budhana area for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of a community. The ones arrested had allegedly thrown meat inside a temple. Station House Officer Sanjive Kumar informed that the police had registered a case under section 295 (defiling place of worship) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused persons following the arrest.

Four personnel identified as Rakesh, Kusum (Rakesh's wife), Rajesh (brother) and Anarkali (sister-in-law) were arrested by the UP police on Tuesday. The police notified that they arrested them based on the allegation that they had been involved in hurting religious sentiments. Under section 295 of the IPC, a case was registered against the four for allegedly throwing meat inside a temple in Budhana in UP. The police informed that a large number of devotees had gathered outside the temple after the incident.

Temple desecration incidents in past

In August, a priest was allegedly stabbed multiple times in Dasna Devi Temple in Ghaziabad in the early hours of August 17. The priest, identified as Nareshanand, was a native of Samastipur Bihar. A disciple of Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, Nareshanand, came to the Ghaziabad-situated temple in Uttar Pradesh only a few days back to meet the head priest. Nareshanand was sleeping in the temple premises when he was stabbed multiple times in his throat and stomach.

On August 5, the Uttar Pradesh police had arrested a person in connection with the letter that warned of a bomb attack on temples in the state. The one arrested was identified as Rafeeq, who had allegedly committed the action above. Post the threat letter, the UP CM Yogi Adityanath had beefed up security at all temples in the state.

A couple of months back, on June 23, a Hindu temple situated in Chhibramau, Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly attacked. As per reports, at around 8 am when the devotees visited the temple, they saw a group of people allegedly chanting inflammatory slogans and desecrating Hindu idols. While the others managed to flee seeing devotees approach the temple, one of them, identified as Dilshad, was caught by the people and handed over to the police.

Before that, on June 5, a temple in the Alampur village of the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh was allegedly attacked similarly. As per reports, the temple was a Shiva temple and around 40-50 years old that came under attack. The lock of the temple was broken, and the Shivling was uprooted from its original place, the reports further suggested. The alleged attack, as per reports, also led to a tussle between the locals, leading to a tense situation in the area. The arrival of the police, however, normalised the situation. No arrests were made in the said incident by the police. 

The temple image given is a representative image.

Image Credits: Representative image/PTI